Pages

Monday, October 22, 2012

Growing up, Breyer's Chocolate Ice Cream was my family's dessert of choice. It was probably due to the fact that it was my mom's all time favorite ice cream. She would always say there was no comparing Breyer's to any other ice cream- it was thicker, creamier, chocolatey-er, and had minimal ingredients. It was the first food I can remember reading the ingredient list and thinking Wow! I know what all of these things are! My mom essentially convinced me at a young age that Breyer's was basically a health food. Needless to say, I ate my fair share of chocolate ice cream growing up.

Flash forward 10+ years, I now know better than to believe there is such a thing as healthy ice cream. However, I know that natural, minimally processed ice cream is better than overly processed-fake ingredient ice cream. If you read the ingredient list to an ice cream(or anything for that matter) and you don't know what most of the ingredients are, you shouldn't eat it.

I had been thinking a lot about my childhood love of chocolate ice cream lately, wondering why I had yet to make a veganized version for Dayv. Perhaps it's because I had no real idea how to make it- cocoa powder or melted chocolate chips? Maybe it's because Dayv never picked out chocolate ice cream back when we still bought ice cream and I thought he didn't like it. Silly Caitlin, who doesn't like chocolate ice cream?

About a week ago, I decided to just wing it, with the thought in mind Simpler is better. Lucky for me, it turned out perfectly. The entire recipe was consumed within record time and as Dayv ate the last huge bowl-full of chocolate ice cream declared I needed to make more. Apparently my husband loves chocolate ice cream, who knew?

Once of the things I love so much about this recipe is the minimal ingredient list. When I first told Dayv there were only four ingredients, he started to guess them. "Cocoa powder. Coconut milk. Chocolate chips." Then he stopped, not knowing what came next. "I'll give you a hint- what makes the ice cream sweet?" I asked. "Love?" asked Dayv.

Why yes, love, and sugar ;)

Double Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2 cans light coconut milk

3/4 cup vegan sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4-1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine both cans of coconut milk and sugar. Whisk until sugar has dissolved. Add cocoa powder and continue to whisk until mixture is uniform in color(like the color of chocolate milk) with no clumps. Remove from heat and pour into glass container, preferably with a spout. Allow to cool on counter for about a half hour before covering the top with plastic wrap and chilling in the refrigerator. Chill for at least 4 hours.

After ice cream mixture is chilled, transfer to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's instructions. About 5 minutes before ice cream is done churning, add chocolate chips(at the 20 minute mark for me). Once finished, serve immediately, or transfer to a flexible plastic container with a lid and place in freezer. Enjoy!

i finished all of it.. so amazingly easy and so delicious! i used a good amount of theo 85% cacao, so i dint need cocoa powder. and i also added a few Tablespoons of cashew flour. it isnt airy as the ice cream maker, but much much softer than some of those expensive rock hard frozen pints!:) i dont know why i keep spending on the ice creams:) well atleast i pick up only interesting flavors now ;) thanks for the recipe!

You know, looking at those delicious, perfect balls of ice cream, I wouldn't be surprised if it was sweetened with love! ;) I totally remember the Breyer's commercials from when I was a kid. They had all of these child actors reciting the ingredients from their competitors. The kids couldn't pronounce the ingredients, and then they read the Breyer's ingredients, which were on the simple side. As a kid, that really hit me, because I'd never thought about ingredient lists or that it might be important. At the time I checked out the store brand ice cream we bought, and it was processed food central. No one else in my family seemed to care (and Breyer's was significantly more expensive). However, that it resonated with me and that I spend so much of my life reading ingredients now, it makes sense that it was a small window into who I'd become.

i remember that commercial! my mom would buy breyers on sale, which i never really thought about until just now since you say it's more expensive. i feel the same way about it opening the window to me being obsessed with reading and understanding ingredient lists. but, really it's just me being a conscientious consumer ;)

I have to ask...in most of your recent MoFo posts you have posted about cooking for Dayv and how much he loves what you have made etc. You always say what he thought of the recipe and how quickly he ate it, but you never mention your thoughts--do you not eat/taste your own cooking? Don't you need to eat too?!?

hi courtney ;) actually, even though dayv and i are both gluten-free and vegan, i actually prepare different meals for me and him. i eat a diet that is very whole grain/legume/vegetable/fruit heavy and have no sweet tooth. dayv loves foods reminiscent of the food he ate growing up- pizza, burgers, grilled cheese, ice cream...

part of my goal for vegan mofo is to show what people who are very picky(like dayv)eat. that's why i've been doing a lot of posts about the food i make for him. i hope this helps explain things.

Chris would lose his crap over this ice cream. I mean, I would too, but chocolate ice cream is totally his jam. The fact that it's double chocolate, well, let's just say I'm likely going to have to buy an ice cream maker so I can start trying out your ice cream recipes, starting with this one. :-)

Can't wait to try this, can I please clarify what can size for the coconut milk. I'm in Australia, not sure what you guys consider a standard size can. Also, vegan sugar? I'm not vegan but am making a lot of vegan food layely as I experiment with healthier eating. What exactly is vegan sugar?Thanks

hi chris! the standard size for a can of coconut milk is 13.5 fl oz. vegan sugar is sugar that hasn't been filtered through animal bone char. at whole foods, i buy their 365 brand and is called "vegan sugar", and is essentially evaporated cane juice and looks like granulated sugar. anything labeled "organic" has to be vegan. watch this short video that explains more here. hope this helps! http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2012/05/video-what-is-vegan-sugar-how-to-easily.html